Eau Claire, WI · Northwestern Wisconsin Closed now (715) 450-9897
(715) 450-9897

Crack Filling and Sealing in Elk Mound

Crack Filling and Sealing in Elk Mound, Wisconsin.

Hot rubber crack filling for driveways and lots in Elk Mound, before the freeze does the expensive part.

Get a Free Estimate Call (715) 450-9897

4.7 from 18 Google reviews

About 15 minutes west of Eau Claire. Free estimates, and a straight read on whether it needs doing yet.

A web of freshly filled cracks running across a parking lot, the rubber still glossy.
2,048 People in Elk Mound
4.7 Google ratingFrom 18 reviews
2-3 yrs Reseal cycleIn Elk Mound
400°F Crack fillerDirect-fire rubber

What a Crack Filling and Sealing Job Looks Like in Elk Mound

The dominant paved surface in Elk Mound isn't commercial in the usual sense. Three school buildings sit within a few hundred feet of each other on University Street, and their combined enrollment is larger than the village population, because the district draws from well beyond the village limits.

That produces a specific kind of surface: bus loops, drop-off lanes, staff and visitor lots, all of it loaded twice a day for nine months and largely empty for three. Bus loading is heavier than car parking and it repeats on exactly the same wheel path, which is why school lots rut where ordinary lots crack. And the work has to happen in the summer window or it doesn't happen.

Crack Filling and Sealing specifically in Elk Mound

A 1990s drive that has never been crack sealed has usually opened up more than it looks like from standing height. This is the cheapest thing on the list and the one that buys the most time.

The Driveways and Lots in Elk Mound

Elk Mound sits in Dunn County between Eau Claire, Menomonie and Chippewa Falls, named for the mound that rises above it. At about fifteen minutes from the shop it's one of the closest towns to the shop, which matters for what a small job costs to get to.

Elk Mound is one of the newest-built towns in the service area. The 1990s are its largest decade, only about a fifth of the housing predates 1950, and barely half predates 1980.

A 1990s driveway is now thirty years old, which is the age where the difference between maintained and neglected becomes stark. Sealed on a cycle, it has years left. Never touched, it has spent three decades oxidizing and the surface stone is usually loose underfoot. Both are common here, on the same streets.

Elk Mound

We work the whole village rather than a named handful of neighborhoods.

Around Elk Mound: Elk Mound, University Street school campus, the mound tower.

Standard 48-inch frost depth and the same season as Eau Claire, which is close enough that scheduling here's straightforward.

From our jobs

Job Photos

The crack crew's trucks and melter working a tree-lined road, road work sign up
The crack crew working a town road
The company flatbed and the yellow crack-seal melter on a road shoulder, two crew in hi-vis working ahead of it
The melter on site, crew working ahead of it

All job photos

Hot rubber vs. cold pour

The stuff in a jug at the hardware store is cold pour. It goes in as a liquid, dries, shrinks, and sits in the crack like a rubber band laid in a trench. It's not bonded to anything. The first hard freeze pulls the crack open, the filler has nothing holding it to the walls, and it lifts out in a strip. Most people have seen this happen and assumed it was a bad batch. Hot-applied rubber goes in at around 400 degrees. At that temperature it's thin enough to run down into the crack instead of bridging it, and hot enough to melt into the asphalt faces on either side. When it cools it has bonded to the walls of the crack, so when the crack moves, the filler moves with it.

Cold pour

The jug from the hardware store, and what a cheap quote uses

  • Sits in the crack rather than bonding to it
  • Shrinks as it cures, leaving a channel down the middle
  • Pulls out in strips after the first hard winter
  • Cheap enough that it gets redone every year, which isn't cheap

Hot-applied rubber

What comes off our kettle

  • Flows to the bottom of the crack at 400 degrees
  • Melts into the asphalt faces and bonds to both walls
  • Stays flexible, so it moves when the crack moves
  • Holds for years, not for one season

This is the one place where the cheaper option isn't a smaller version of the right one. It's a different product doing a different thing.

What Decides the Price in Elk Mound

Priced by the foot of crack, not by the area of the surface, because that's what actually drives the work. Usually done as part of a sealcoating job, where it costs less than it would on its own.

With a sealcoat job

Driveway

Measured on site

  • Most driveways need some, and it's included up to a point
  • Heavy cracking is quoted separately and said up front

Crack filling alone

Driveway, no sealcoat

Measured on site

  • Worth doing on its own if the surface is otherwise sound

Commercial lot

Per linear foot

Measured on site

  • Depends on crack width, depth and how much routing it needs
  • Most lots are quoted as a lump sum after a walk

Cracks wider than about an inch and a half, or ones that have broken into a network, are past filling. Those get cut out and patched rather than filled with something that will not hold.

How the Work Goes in Elk Mound

Done before sealer, always: sealer can't bridge an open crack.

Clean the crack out

Blown out with compressed air, vegetation and old failed filler removed. Rubber won't bond to dirt any more than sealer will.

Rout the wide ones

Wide or heavily worked cracks get cut to a consistent reservoir so the filler has a proper shape to sit in. Not every crack needs it; the ones that do are the ones that have already failed once.

Fill hot

Direct-fire kettle, rubber at 400 degrees, wanded into the crack until it's full from the bottom up rather than skinned over at the top.

Squeegee and let it set

Struck off flush or slightly banded over, depending on the surface. Sets hard enough to drive on in under an hour in most conditions.

Booking sealcoating and striping through October · Call (715) 450-9897

Questions We Get in Elk Mound

What Elk Mound calls us about, answered straight.

More questions answered
Our drive is from the mid nineties. Is that old enough to worry about?
Thirty years is old enough that the answer depends entirely on its history. Run your hand over it: if loose stones come away, the binder has oxidized and sealing is overdue. If it's still tight and dark, you're in good shape and a seal now is cheap insurance. Elk Mound has a lot of drives exactly this age, in both conditions.
Can school lot work be done without disrupting the year?
It has to be, which means it gets quoted in winter and done in the summer break. Sealing needs a clear, dry surface for about a day per section, and bus loops in particular can't be half-done on a school morning. Booked ahead it's straightforward. Booked in August it usually isn't.
Under half the homes here are single-family. Does that change the work?
It means a real share of what looks residential is shared surface: duplexes, small multi-unit buildings and the parking that goes with them. Those carry more vehicles than one drive does and they wear at the entrance and the aisle rather than in the middle. They get quoted like a small lot, with the bid saying plainly which areas are included, because that is the document everybody sharing the cost has to agree on.
How much does crack filling cost?
It is priced by the linear foot of crack rather than by the size of the surface, so a big driveway with four cracks costs less than a small one that has opened up all over. Width matters too: anything wide enough to need routing out first takes longer. On a driveway it is usually included up to a point when it is done with a sealcoat rather than billed on its own.
Why does the temperature of the crack filler matter?
At 400 degrees the rubber is thin enough to reach the bottom of the crack and hot enough to melt into the asphalt on both sides, so it bonds. Cold pour filler can't do either, which is why it lifts out in strips after a winter.
Should I fill cracks before sealcoating or after?
Before, always. Sealer is a thin wear layer and it can't bridge an open crack. Sealing over one changes its color and nothing else, and the crack reappears through the new surface within weeks.
Is there a crack too big to fill?
Yes. Past about an inch and a half, or once cracking has broken into a network of squares, filling won't hold because the surface around it is moving independently. Those areas get cut out and patched instead.
When is the best time of year for crack filling?
Spring or early fall in Elk Mound and the surrounding area is ideal, because cracks are at a middling width. In high summer they're at their tightest and in deep winter they're at their widest, and filling at either extreme means the filler is working against the movement rather than with it.

Get a Free Estimate in Elk Mound

Tell us what it looks like and we'll come measure it. You get a written price before anything starts.

(715) 450-9897
  • Free on driveways and lots anywhere in the service area
  • A photo of the problem helps, and it can go in the message
  • Surfaces that are not ready yet get told so at the estimate

Get an estimate

Send the form and we'll call you back. The estimate is free.

By submitting, you agree to be contacted about your crack filling and sealing job. Text messages only go out if you checked the box above. We don't sell your info, ever.

Other Work We Do in Elk Mound

Crack Filling and Sealing in Nearby Towns

Everything about crack filling and sealing, including how the work goes and what changes the price